MIAMI.- The least hydroelectric power was generated in the Western United States during the 2022-23 water year since at least 2001according to data from the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Western region hydropower generation fell 11% from a year earlier to 141.6 million megawatt hours (MWh), the lowest in 22 years during that period. This generation can vary significantly from one year to the next because the amount of precipitation influences achieving that energy.
Hydroelectric energy is energy that is generated by transforming the force of water into electrical energy. To take advantage of this force, large hydraulic infrastructures are being built capable of extracting the maximum potential of this renewable, emissions-free resource, according to the EIA report. In that sense, the drought not only threatens the water supply but also puts hydroelectric energy in trouble.
60% of hydroelectric energy
The western United States (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, California, Oregon and Washington) produced the majority (60%) of the country’s hydropower last hydroelectric year (2022- 2. 3). A combined 37% of total U.S. hydroelectric capacity is located in Washington and Oregon. During the fall and winter of 2022 to 2023, precipitation in this region was nearly below normal.
In May 2023, a heat wave that raised temperatures 30°F above normal hit the region and rapidly melted the snowpack. Water flows were high, but much of the supply needed for generation during the summer months melted during the heat wave in the fifth month of the year. Water supply was below average in the northwest region for the remainder of the water year, reducing hydroelectric power generation.
Other data from the EIA report
- In the 2022-23 water year, 23% less hydropower was generated in Washington than the previous water year, for a total of 62.3 million MWh (megawatt hour).
- Hydropower generation in Oregon also fell more than 20% in the 2022-23 water year. The hydrological year runs from October 1 to September 30.
- By contrast, hydroelectric generation grew in California last year. From December 2022 to March 2023, a series of rivers drenched parts of the western US, especially California, with record rain and snow, doubling hydroelectric power generation totaling 30 million MWh. A megawatt hour is the unit of power that is equivalent to one million watts.
Other southwestern states also experienced above-normal rainfall. Lake Powell, (a man-made lake created from the Colorado River for the construction of the Glen Canyon Reservoir) located between Arizona and Utah is considered an indicator of hydrological conditions in the upper Colorado River basin.
In the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the Energy Information Administration forecasts 12% less hydroelectric production in Western California, the Southwest by 2024.
Source: The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA)
